The 71st Hunger Games
by CrystalBellis
Summary: My first shot at fan fiction. Please review, as I am anxious to hear your feedback!
1. Chapter 1  District 11 ReapingPreGame

Chapter 1

"Norah Frazier."

The two words ring out, and hang in the air, suspended. An interval on a piano, the rightmost pedal to the ground.

I will not yell. I will not scream. I will not cry.

My survival depends on it.

I make my way through the crowd, shoving people to the ground if at all necessary. Move aside fish, and let the shark come though.

No nonsense. Just business. All strategy.

As I expected, no one volunteers for me. Not even my brother, eighteen years old. Maybe he's shell-shocked. Maybe he's not. Maybe he just doesn't care. I'd bet on the latter.

My eyes hadn't even focused on the vast crowd of District 11 that lies before me when they call the boy tribute up.

"Kaden Lindell."

The two words hang, but not as nearly as long as mine did. A seventeen year old boy stalks up to the podium, seemingly strong-hearted to fools, but not me, I can see through him. I can see him up close. I can see his eyes, his glazed eyes. His tear-stricken face. He had given up.

I hadn't.

The glass elevator door slid shut, and my stomach lurched as the small silver capsule shot up. My stylist, Ferris, was far-gone out of sight, and he will most likely be the last face out of the arena I will ever see again.

The top of the capsule opens up as my speed slows. Deposited onto a golden plate set into the ground, my eyes dart up. The time for lamenting is done.

"Let the 71st Hunger Games begin!" Claudius Templesmith's voice rang out from above, from the unknown.

We couldn't move in the first minute, or a bomb would explode from beneath us. Looking around, I see twenty or so other tributes, each on their own equidistant plates. The others must be hidden from view by the Cornucopia, a massive solid gold horn, filled to the brim with supplies and weapons of every trade. The Cornucopia is right in the middle of everything, with supplies scattered out in every direction, their value decreasing with increasing distance. What to do, what to do.

The golden horn glistened tauntingly. I was fast. I could make it. I looked to the girl on my left, a District 3 tribute. She had always been sneaky and suspicious, though not exactly physical.

She reached into her pocket, to retrieve a black rock. It could have only been her district token. The girl threw the rock toward me with alarming speed, but she wasn't aiming for me.

The rock whistled past me and hit the ground near the plate of the tribute to the right of me. He was a District 2 boy, a Career and a favorite to win these Games.

A favorite no longer.

The motion sensors were set off and his plate exploded with enormous magnitude.

The 71st Hunger Games hadn't even started yet, and already one fatality was added to the inevitable list of deaths.

KILL LIST –

-District 2 male


	2. Chapter 2  Cornucopia

Chapter 2

Blood of the Career boy from District two rained down on me, a leg landing near my plate. It was a miracle it didn't set off mine. I swallowed.

The Gamemakers would fix that for sure. That was a cheap shot from the District 3 girl.

Then the gong was struck.

The sound of the gong hadn't resolved before I was sprinting, already halfway across the distance between the Cornucopia and myself. Most tributes hadn't even taken a step yet.

I was the first to the horn, I was sure of that. Breathing heavily, I tugged at a belt of twelve identical throwing knives, and it came loose easily. For good measure, I grabbed a rather large, brown backpack and slung it over one shoulder.

It was time to get out of there. I didn't belong here.

We were surrounded by forest, but anything could appear once you go far enough. This arena was huge, one of the largest ever built. I pulled out a knife and began to make my flight. A girl, District 4, I think, ran at me haphazardly with a spear. She had a good, strong build, and she may have been in the Career pack.

I threw the knife, and it found its mark more cleanly than I expected, right into the heart. She fell to the ground, dead. My first kill.

I was running, and running, back past my own plate and nearly to the forest. I was going to make it. I was-

The arrow slipped in between my shoulders, piercing my skin. I fell to the dirt. The pain was unbearable. I reached to my back, and pulled out the arrow. I stood, and my eyes found the attacker. It was the girl from District 3, the one who had thrown the rock.

Maybe pulling it out was not such a good idea. This triggered a huge loss of blood, and I shouted. The girl was already loading another arrow, readying for her latest kill, me.

I was too fast.

My knife found her right shoulder, and she screamed, and crumpled to the ground. Not a kill, but definitely a deciding blow. If no one killed her for me, nature would do its job. She was as good as dead.

I made it to the start of the forest with no more trouble, although I was losing It was a rather small group, only four. Dead bodies lay all around, staining the once-flawless grass red.

The cannon fired once. Twice. Three times.

The cannon rang out eleven times. Eleven deaths in the initial bloodbath. Thirteen tributes remaining. Twelve to kill.

I would have to wait until tonight to see who had died, their faces will flash into the sky for a few seconds.

I was still handicapped with a semi-fatal wound. After walking ten minutes to ensure at least some means of safety, I couldn't do it anymore, and my body was heavy.

I laid down onto the ground, seeking my peace. I had given up.

Darkness.

. . .

_The two words hang, but not as nearly as long as mine did. A seventeen year old boy stalks up to the podium, seemingly strong-hearted to fools, but not me, I can see through him. I can see him up close. I can see his eyes, his glazed eyes. His tear-stricken face. He had given up._

_I hadn't._

. . .

Darkness.

. . .

A dot of light.

The canopy of trees rematerialized. I can't give up now.

KILL LIST -

-District 2 male

-11 others


End file.
